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Memphis Wrestling (6.30.1979) Review

August 26, 2021 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
Memphis Wrestling 6-30-1979 Image Credit: Twitter
8.3
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Memphis Wrestling (6.30.1979) Review  

-Originally aired June 30, 1979.

-Your hosts are Lance Russell & Dave Brown.

BLONDE BLOMBERS (Tag Team Champions, with Pvt. Danny Davis) vs. KOKO WARE & JERRY BRYANT
-During the introductions, Private Danny Davis comes to the commentary table, along with Ken & Buddy Wayne and Pete Austin, and he has a fancy cake with “Congratulations Sgt. Davis” written in icing. Sonny King was so happy about Davis’ hard work last week and invites the Bombers to come over and get some cake, so by sheer force of will, everyone just totally holds up the scheduled match so the Bombers can come to the party while Lance fumes and insists that they start the match. Really funny scene, as Buddy Wayne just makes an absolute pig of himself with the cake and the celebration goes on FOREVER while Lance keeps trying to hurry everyone up and start the damn match already.

-Lance is so fed up with waiting that he just rings the bell to force a start to the match, so the Bombers head over to the ring. Bryant armdrags Ferris and follows with a slam. Larry Latham tags in and gets his arm wringed and wrung. Latham tags out and Koko whips Ferris around with SPEED, armdragging him over and over in rapid succession. Bryant applies an armbar, as the pre-match cake appears to have been an error in judgment. The champs are logy.

-Latham comes in, and Bryant immediately ties him up by the arm while Davis rages about all the hair-pulling that’s not happening. Irish whip by Koko gets one. Slam gets another one. Chinlock by Koko as the champs are just having a disaster of a week so far, nearly four minutes in the match without any meaningful offense.

-Latham finally breaks and turns the chinlock into a hammerlock. He tags Ferris, and Koko just slams him down. Bryant elbows Ferris for two, then applies a front facelock. Latham gets a sneaky knee to the back to finally get something happening, and the champs are pissed about being shown up so hard. Relentless forearms to the back by the champs. They gang up on Bryant in the corner, which draws the ire of Koko, and while the referee is getting him to return to his corner, Davis passes a leather strap into the ring, and the champs clothesline Bryant with it to get the three-count.

-Back from commercial, the Blonde Bombers are still at ringside when Lance Russell tries to introduce some video, but Wayne Ferris won’t let him narrate it because your snout grows when you lie and you can tell by the bugle beak that Lance just likes to lie. So Wayne Ferris introduces the best father & son tag team in the business today, the Waynes, going against Papa Geek and Son Geek in the Mid-South Coliseum.

TOMMY & EDDIE GILBERT vs. KEN & BUDDY WAYNE

-So here we are in the Mid-South Coliseum. Tommy starts the match and Buddy is unquestionably scared to death of the old man and won’t get in. Tommy is so frustrated that he tags out without doing a thing, so it’s the sons starting the match. They battle for a top wristlock while Ferris rants and raves about all the kicking. Ferris is hilarious on commentary here, ranting at Cornette speed and mocking “Howdy Doody” Brown for not saying a word since the tape began rolling on this match.

-Eddie with a side headlock on Ken. Tommy tags in and absolutely refuses to do a thing with the kid, demanding Buddy tag in. He shoves Ken into his father to force the tag, but instead Buddy whispers advice to his kid and makes him go back to the center of the ring to wrestle Tommy. Tommy is dumb enough to keep getting distracted by Buddy, and Ken pops him in the jaw repeatedly as Tommy keeps falling for it, really to the point where you can argue that he deserves this.

-So Tommy throws ONE right hand and Ferris is immediately on the war path about all the bullshit punching and cheating he’s seeing from the Gilberts. Buddy finally comes in and Tommy just hammers on him. Ken Wayne sneaks up to the top rope, trying for a surprise attack, but Eddie hurries over there and slams him off. All four men are in the ring; the sons are having a pretty even battle while Buddy Wayne is getting mauled by Tommy.

-Buddy digs into his tights and pulls out some powder, blinding Tommy. The Waynes take full advantage, pounding and kicking at him, and Tommy is bleeding. Hot tag to Eddie, who clears the ring while Ferris pains that he’s doing it by throwing punches just like Daddy. Ken makes it back into the ring, and Eddie simply backdrops him and rolls him up for the three-count. Anticlimactic finish, but a pretty fun match up to that point. Waynes attack post-match, but Tommy comes to the rescue.

-Back in the studio, Lance complains that the cake is still sitting on the desk and tells them to take the cake and just leave.

-Back from commercial, the Blonde Bombers are STILL here, but they back away when the Gilberts head out here for some comments. Tommy feels that they won the battle and lost the war because of that post-match attack. Funny bit of business in the background, as Ferris is just doing little things to irritate the hell out of Dave Brown while he waits for this promo to finish up.

KEN WAYNE vs. JOHNNY STARR

-Commentators are begging Wayne Ferris to go the hell away already and Ferris just insists on hanging out for the rest of the show because he’s better at commentary.

-Dropkick by Starr, followed by an armdrag (“Pulled the hair!” wails Wayne Ferris). Wayne applies a side headlock, but he gets sent into the ropes and gets on the wrong side of a dropkick. Starr goes for an armbar, but Wayne fights out with “forearms” that Dave insists were punches. Starr fights back with actual forearms, with Ferris explaining that Wayne is just allowing him to get some offense for a false sense of security. Wayne throws him into the ropes for a backdrop. Starr counters it, bungling the counter and landing right on his head in a scary moment, but he still manages to follow through and turns the backdrop into a roll-up for a surprise three-count! Ferris is immediately on the war path about how the tights were pulled AND Wayne had his shoulder up anyway, but everyone ignores Ferris’ complaining and Starr walks out with his arm raised.

-Buddy Wayne comes to ringside, and he’s so fired up about his boy being cheated out of a win, and Buddy just rips his shirt off and storms into the ring, demanding Starr get in there again for another match. I love the Wayne family dynamic. Ken is 20 but looks 16, and he always just has a really naive deer-in-headlights look on his face. Meanwhile, Buddy is a big, blustery, dad-bodied jackass in a polo shirt and slacks, who’s always hollering at everyone. You can just absolutely imagine Buddy in the stands on a Friday night in early September, screaming at the referees as if the game against Stuckeyville High is the Super Bowl. Jock Dad living through his Jock Son is such an instantly, easily hateable dynamic.

-So Starr returns and Buddy attacks him before he’s back in the ring, and somehow, Starr is bleeding, and the commentators suspect that Buddy has a weapon in his pocket. Starr fights back and heaves Buddy completely across the ring. Starr is fighting off both of them by himself, and the Gilberts show up to provide some reinforcement, so the Waynes get fed up and leave. Great angle, as Starr is an instant…well, star, and the Waynes are even bigger heels as a result of their reaction to it.

-Bill Dundee has a scheduled interview, and he heads out with a wooden stool and makes it emphatically clear that he wants to be ALONE when he’s interviewed, so the Blonde Bombers and Danny Davis take the hint and leave.

-Back from commercial, Lance introduces Dundee, but suddenly, Wayne Ferris is back. He’s changed his mind about being told to leave and encourages Dundee to come into the ring and fight him. Dundee is game, and he’s smart enough to know the next move here so he’s immediately ready when Davis and Latham come in and he takes them on for as long as he can, but 3 on 1 becomes too much and he’s overwhelmed. GREAT detail here, as they cut to the entrance area, and it turns out that Pete Austin and the Waynes are barricading the door, to explain why nobody is coming to Dundee’s aid. Mid-South did that once or twice before giving up on it, but I love that we’re getting a reason that Dundee is just being left out there to get murdered.

-Lance Russell runs down the card for Monday night at the Mid-South Coliseum. Sgt. Danny Davis & The Blonde Bombers will team up to battle Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee…and Jackie Fargo.

-And so we go to pre-taped words at Jackie Fargo’s house on Thursday morning. Jackie cuts a long promo about how he pretty much started his mid-life crisis five months ago and needed to take time off, but now he’s ready to get back into the game and he’ll team up with Lawler & Dundee on Monday night.

-We close the show with a Jackie Fargo highlight reel, and it’s hilarious because it’s a slew of shots of him bloodied and bruised at the end of past matches, and they use full-throttle Studio 54 disco music as a soundtrack.

8.3
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
More Wayne Ferris commentary please...hook it to my veins if possible.
legend

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Memphis Wrestling, Adam Nedeff